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Joined:
November 2012
Posts: 135
Location: New Bern, NC | This Saturday I am driving to Raleigh, NC, a 2-hour drive from my home, to have my Custom Legend fixed by an authorized Ovation specialist. The electronics need to be fixed. I'm told it probably needs a new preamp and I will probably have to leave it over the Christmas holidays for the parts to be shipped from Ovation. No problem. I figured while the repairman has it I can get him to do some routine maintenance. What things would you have an authorized Ovation specialist do while he has your baby? I don't think the truss rod needs adjustment. The frets aren't worn down, that I've noticed either. This specialist worked on it about a year ago and tightened up some things inside, dusted it out inside, and secured some things that were loose inside too. My CASE needs some work! One of the latches doesn't work well at all. And the ribbon that keeps the lid from flopping completely open is torn too. I wonder if he could fix stuff like this. LOL |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Once your repair-geek has the replacement preamp, it should only take him an Hour to swap-them-out... Tops!
This is not a real high-tech problem.
Remove the strings. Undo a "retainer nut". Disconnect some wires. Connect some wires. Re-install the preamp. Re-string.
I would just tell him to order a new preamp, and let you know when he receives it.
Then arrange to go down and have him fix it while you watch, or go shopping in Raleigh and pick-it-up in a coupla hours.
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4081
Location: Utah | I can't really think of any routine maintenance on an Ovation. You can check for high frets or worn frets yourself, and if needed have him tweak those. Otherwise all you really need to do is the occasional cleaning and fretboard oiling. Use a good (real) lemon oil or mineral oil about once per year. Wipe it on, rub the grunge off, wipe it on again, and then use a dry cloth or paper towel to remove as much oil as you can.
I like to mess with my guitars probably a bit too much, always tweaking or trying something out. One thing though which every guitar owner should do is have a really good setup. The truss rod is only one part of it. The nut and the saddle are the other two parts. The saddle you can adjust yourself via adding or removing shims underneath it. The nut you can do yourself but you need the right files. And if you screw it up you'll be either doing a whole new nut or paying the shop $75 to install a new one. Thus, filing the nut may be something you have this guy do for you.
In brief, the nut is like a fret, a Zero fret. It should hold the strings only barely higher than the the height of the first fret. But on most guitars the nut is quite a bit higher than that. As a result the strings have to stretch and bend quite a bit when you are fretting in the first 5 or 6 frets. The intonation is off, and it is harder to play. An F bar chord can be a lot harder to play than the same form played on the 5th fret, right? And when your guitar is in tune you find the C chord may sound ok but then an A or a G or a D chord is a bit off. Put a capo between the 2nd and 3rd frets. Now see how high the strings are going over the top of the 1st fret. It should be barely visible. If you tap the string gently onto the fret you should just barely feel it move and then tap.
If the nut slots are cut too low you will get fret buzz when you play open strings. The more vigorous your style of playing the more this is a factor, too. When you get it just right the guitar is a real joy to play and it plays in tune with all the cowboy chords. |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 1249
Location: Texas | Fly...+1
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Joined:
June 2012
Posts: 2347
Location: Pueblo West, CO | One thing to have your tech do is to tighten the various screws and nuts around the guitar. These do not use any sort of thread-locker and the vibration of the guitar will loosen these over time.
My daughter's boyfriend recently had me look at his O, as it had a dead-sounding low-E. I popped the backdoor off it, and checked all the braces to make sure none was loose.
Next, I checked the nuts holding the bridge and they were loose. The bass nut was looser than the treble nut. After tightening the nuts, we checked the sound of the low-E and even with the old strings, it had a lot more sustain.
If the electronics on your O are held to the body with screws, check to make sure these are tight, too.
I also checked the wood screws on the tuners and a couple were loose here. I also checked the threaded bushing on the front side of the tuners and a couple here were loose, too.
Once we were done, we cleaned up the guitar, waxed the fingerboard and bridge, then put on a new set of strings.
He went away much happier with how his guitar sounded and couldn't stop playing it for the rest of the night.
Dan |
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Joined:
November 2008
Posts: 400
Location: Northwest Arkansas | I just did that to my Takamine EG334C. I've had it for probably 20 years and I kind of lost interest in it. Cleaned it up and used some cleaner wax on the top, Meguiar's Scratch X 2.0 took out a bunch of scratches, I did the whole top with the Meguiar's then polished it with my usual polish. I put a set of Martin Flexible Core Silk and Phosphor Customs and I could not put this guitar down. I should've done this a long time ago. And to think I was going to sell her. Pffffffft. |
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Joined:
October 2012
Posts: 349
Location: Denver, CO | Cleaned it up and used some cleaner wax on the top, Meguiar's Scratch X 2.0 took out a bunch of scratches, I did the whole top with the Meguiar's then polished it with my usual polish.
What kind of polish do you usually use? Nice to hear about the Meguiars. I think the Elite I just bought may have a few gentle scratches that need to be touched up a bit, and I was gonna ask, what kind of buffing compound people use. |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 430
Location: Lebanon, TN | <p>Meguiar's Scratch X 2.0 is awesome for removing scratches, swirlies and that dull oxidization you get from sweaty arm syndrome :-) Very reccomended. Also 0000 wire wool is great to gently remove that nasty brown staining you get on the edges of white/cream binding. I have bought several 80's vintage Os recently that pop now the brown smoke/grime staining is removed. It also is brilliant for shining up those frets :-) Meguiars will also remove some oxidation from tuner hardware but not fix the nasty acid pitting you sometimes get on the gold. Have had to replace most of those.</p>
Edited by Stuart Miller 2012-12-19 4:38 PM
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routine maintenance?
